Board of Directors

The Board of Directors holds regular meetings four times a year, schedules special meetings when required, and regularly meets in executive session without management. The Board and its committees also meet informally from time to time.

The Board believes sound corporate governance practices provide an important framework in assisting the Board to discharge its responsibilities. Accordingly, the Board has adopted corporate governance principles relating to its functions, structure, and operations.

Edward H. Bastian,,

Ed Bastian became Chief Executive Officer on May 2, 2016, after nearly 18 years with the airline.

In his previous role as President, Ed focused on leading Delta’s commercial and international functions and strengthening Delta’s financial foundation through innovation, debt reduction, revenue growth and bolstering the airline’s global network.

Ed played a pivotal role in finalizing Delta’s acquisition of Northwest Airlines in 2008 and managing the airlines’ successful integration. Since that time, Ed and his team have led Delta’s continued transformation by developing strategies to make the business less vulnerable to economic cycles. Examples include: the purchase of a refinery which is expected to save the airline $300 million annually; reducing Delta’s debt to increase its flexibility; and investing in the Delta experience from facilities enhancements at several of Delta’s hubs to online and in-flight product improvements which, combined, are expected to contribute more than $1 billion in annual benefits to Delta.

Ed joined Delta in 1998 as Vice President – Finance and Controller and was promoted to Senior Vice President in 2000. He left Delta in early 2004 to become Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Acuity Brands before returning to Delta six months later to serve as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Ed was appointed to serve as Delta’s President in September 2007.

Ed also served as Chief Restructuring Officer between 2005 and 2007, playing a crucial role in the airline’s swift and successful Chapter 11 reorganization.

Ed has broad finance and audit experience, including serving as Vice President – Finance for Pepsi Cola International, Vice President – Business Processes reengineering for Frito-Lay, Vice President – Finance and Controller for Frito-Lay International, and as a partner in the New York audit practice of Price Waterhouse specializing in the entertainment, advertising and manufacturing sectors. He also served as the strategic planning partner for Price Waterhouse’s New York region.

Ed graduated of St. Bonaventure University in New York with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

Francis S. "Frank" Blake,,

Frank Blake is the non-executive Chairman of Delta’s Board of Directors. Mr. Blake served as the lead director of Delta’s Board from May 2016 until October 2016. Blake, the former Chairman and CEO of The Home Depot, joined Delta’s Board in July 2014. He was the CEO of The Home Depot from 2007 to November 2014 and previously served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and its Executive Vice President. He joined The Home Depot in 2002 as Executive Vice President - Business Development and Corporate Operations. Mr. Blake was previously the deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of Energy and served in a variety of executive positions at General Electric Company, including as Senior Vice President, Corporate Business Development in charge of all worldwide mergers, acquisitions and dispositions worldwide. He is a director of Macy’s, Inc. and The Procter & Gamble Company.

Daniel A. Carp,,

Mr. Carp served as non-executive Chairman of Delta’s Board of Directors from 2007 until May 2016. He was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Eastman Kodak Company from 2000 to 2005. Mr. Carp was President of Eastman Kodak Company from 1997 to 2003. He is a director of Norfolk Southern Corporation and Texas Instruments Inc.

Ashton B. Carter,,

Secretary Carter is Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School and an Innovation Fellow at MIT. He served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2015 to 2017. Secretary Carter has served directly and indirectly under 11 Secretaries of Defense in both Democratic and Republican administrations. He served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 2011 to 2013, functioning as the department’s chief operating officer; as Undersecretary of Defense of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics from 2009 to 2011; and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy from 1993 to 1996. Outside of government service, Secretary Carter was most recently a distinguished visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and a Senior Executive at the Markle Foundation.

David G. DeWalt,,

Mr. DeWalt most recently served as the Executive Chairman of the Board of FireEye, Inc., a global network cyber security company. Mr. DeWalt served as FireEye’s Chief Executive Officer from November 2012 to June 2016 and Chairman of its Board from June 2012 to January 2017. Mr. DeWalt was President and Chief Executive Officer of McAfee, Inc., a security technology company, from 2007 until 2011 when McAfee, Inc. was acquired by Intel Corporation. From 2003 to 2007, Mr. DeWalt held executive positions with EMC Corporation, a provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions, including serving as Executive Vice President and President-Customer Operations and Content Management Software. He is also a director of Five9, Inc. and he was a director of FireEye, Inc. from 2012 to 2017, Jive Software, Inc. from 2011 to 2013 and Polycom, Inc. from 2005 to 2013.

William"Bill" Easter,,

Mr. Easter was Chairman, President and CEO of DCP Midstream LLC (formerly Duke Energy Field Services, LLC) from 2004 until his retirement in 2008. Previously employed by ConocoPhillips for 32 years, Mr. Easter served as Vice President of State Government Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and as General Manager of the Gulf Coast Refining, Marketing and Transportation Business Unit from 1998 to 2002. He is a director of Concho Resources, Inc. and Grupo Aeromexico, S.A.B. de C.V. He was a director of BakerHughes, Inc. from 2014 to 2017 and Sunoco, Inc. from 2011 to 2012.

Mickey Foret,,

Mr. Foret was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northwest Airlines, Inc. from 1998 to 2002, and also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Cargo from 1999 to 2002. Mr. Foret served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Air, Inc. from 1996 to 1997 and as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Northwest Airlines, Inc. from 1993 to 1996. He is a director of SpartanNash and was a director of URS Corporation from 2003 to 2014 and Nash Finch Company from 2005 to 2013.

Jeanne P. Jackson,,

Ms. Jackson retired as senior strategic advisor to the chief executive officer of NIKE, Inc. effective August 1, 2017. She served as NIKE’s President, Product and Merchandising from July 2013 until April 2016 and President, Direct to Consumer from 2009 until July 2013. Ms. Jackson joined the NIKE Executive team in 2009 after serving on its Board of Directors for eight years. She founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of MSP Capital, a private investment company, from 2002 to 2009, a role she has resumed since retiring from NIKE. She served as Chief Executive Officer of Walmart.com, a private e-commerce enterprise, from 2000 to 2002. Ms. Jackson previously served in various leadership positions at Gap Inc., Victoria’s Secret, Saks Fifth Avenue and Federated Department Stores, Inc., all clothing retailers, and Walt Disney Attractions, Inc., the theme parks and vacation resorts division of The Walt Disney Company. She is currently a director of McDonald’s Corporation and Kraft Heinz Company.

George N. Mattson,,

Mr. Mattson served as a partner and co-head of the Global Industrials Group in Investment Banking at Goldman, Sachs & Co. from 2002 through August 2012, where he served in a variety of positions from 1994 to 2002. Mr. Mattson was an Associate at Credit Suisse First Boston from 1993 to 1994, and he held various sales and marketing positions at IBM from 1987 to 1993.

Douglas R. Ralph,,

Mr. Ralph has been a Delta pilot since 1991 and is currently a Captain of a Boeing 767ER aircraft. He was an active duty pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years prior to joining Delta. He was then a pilot in the U.S. Naval Reserves for 17 years, retiring with the rank of Captain in 2001. Mr. Ralph has been designated by the Delta MEC as the Pilot Nominee. Prior to joining the Board of Directors, Mr. Ralph was the Chair of the Investor Relations Committee of the Delta MEC and also served on a Government Affairs Committee for the Delta MEC.

Sergio Rial,,

Mr. Rial has been Chief Executive Officer since January 2016 of Banco Santander Brazil, the third largest private bank in Brazil and a member of Santander Group, the largest bank in the Eurozone. Mr. Rial served as Chairman of Banco Santander Brazil from February 2015 until January 2016. From 2012 to February 2015, Mr. Rial was Chief Executive Officer of Marfrig Global Foods, one of the world’s largest meat companies with operations in Brazil and 15 other countries. Prior to joining Marfrig in 2012, Mr. Rial served in various leadership capacities with Cargill, Inc., a Minneapolis-based global provider of food, agriculture, financial and industrial products and services. At Cargill, Mr. Rial served as Chief Financial Officer from 2009 to 2011 and Executive Vice President from 2011 to 2012. He was also a member of Cargill’s board of directors from 2010 to 2012. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Rial was a senior managing director and co-head of the Investment Banking Division at Bear Stearns & Co. in New York after serving at ABN AMRO Bank for 18 years. He was a director of Cyrela Brazil Realty S.A. from 2010 to 2015 and The Mosaic Company from 2010 to 2011.

Kathy Waller,,

Ms. Waller has been the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of The Coca-Cola Company since 2014. Effective May 1, 2017, Ms. Waller assumed responsibility for Coca-Cola’s strategic governance area as Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and President, Enabling Services. Ms. Waller joined Coca-Cola in 1987 as a senior accountant and has assumed roles of increasing responsibility during her career, including Vice President, Finance and Controller. She is a director of Monster Beverage Corporation.